Behavioural Lessons for Conflict of Interest Regulation?

Speaker: Anne-Lise Sibony

Abstract: In the early 2000s, the Enron auditing scandal focused the attention of behavioural science scholars on conflicts of interest. Since then, behavioural ethics scholarship has investigated the psychology of conflicts of interest and pointed to interventions such as ethical nudges to alleviate the effects of ethical blind spots. But has regulation learned any lessons? And are the lessons for regulators?

The (EU) Digital Services Act offers an example of a recent regulatory scheme for audits of very large online platforms. Taking it as a starting point, the presentation will focus on how best to study the law’s convergence, divergence, or ignorance of behavioural insights. The aim is not to offer an in-depth analysis of DSA’s conflict of interest provisions (this will be done elsewhere). It is to invite a discussion on questions to ask when confronting behavioural insights and the law. The example will serve to flag some challenges linked to the granularity gap between behavioural findings and legal rules.

Recorded on 21 March 2024 as part of the LSE Hayek Programme- Department of Social Policy Joint BPP seminar series